


Never Close Enough

by buliannoran



Category: Julian Bunetta - Fandom, Nulian Boran, One Direction (Band), niall horan - Fandom, nulian
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-05-02 01:21:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5228477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buliannoran/pseuds/buliannoran
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall is your stereotypical music student at any artsy university. He's always got his guitar strapped to his back and a cup of coffee in hand. Julian was just the barista that served the coffee to the blonde kid three times a week for the past three months - not that he was counting. </p><p>One afternoon a chance encounter brings them closer than they ever thought they'd be.</p><p>(Possibly writing a part 2 if I'm feeling inspired)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Close Enough

The crisp autumn air threatened to rip Niall’s beanie off of his head as he trudged towards the local coffee shop to get his usual before class: large iced coffee with soy milk. He couldn’t believe it was already the second week of October and midterms were here. Between the papers, projects, and tests, he felt like he hadn’t slept since school started and he was worried that the dark circles under his eyes were becoming permanent.

As he rounded the corner and pushed through the revolving door, the guitar and messenger bag started to slide down his shoulder and before he knew it his books and papers were strewn across the floor.

“Shit.” Niall muttered under his breath, kneeling over to gather his things. When he looked up, he noticed the usual barista with the curly brown hair smirking at him.

“Rough morning?” he asked from behind the bar.

“More like a rough couple of weeks,” Niall replied, finally composing himself and his things enough to order his drink, “Can I just get my usual?”

“You’re a bundle of sunshine this morning, sunshine, Do you drink iced coffee even when it’s twenty below zero out?” 

Niall rolled his eyes, and pulled a five-dollar bill out of his wallet, waiting to pay. As he watched the barista pour his coffee, a stack of cherry red flyer caught his eye on the counter. It was a casting call for some short film at his school. It was probably some weird art piece. The call was for men and women aged 20-30 and would receive a stipend of 20 dollars each.

‘That 20 bucks could buy me at least 4 more cups of coffee,’ Niall thought to himself and tore a piece with the link to the application off of the poster and turned back to the counter to pay for his drink.

“$3.65…. and are you really planning on going to that…. Thing? Doesn’t feel like something you’d do.” The barista questioned with one accusatory eyebrow raised and motioning a finger towards the flyers.

“It’s easy money. What’s the worst that could happen?” Niall took his coffee out of the baristas hand and rushed out the door before he could respond. He hardly realized that he had five minutes to get to his guitar techniques II midterm. There was no way he could be late again because every time he’d show up late, there would be an iced coffee in his hands. 

____________________________________

 

Niall charged into his apartment after his exam and set all of his things down on the couch that his roommate's parents had donated to them when they moved in. It was one of those couches that was as old as he was and perfect for napping. He’d just opened the fridge to heat up the leftover pasta for lunch when his roommate Harry barged through the door talking loudly on his cell phone. 

“I’m sorry Lou- you know I have midterms this week. Yes we can hang out this weekend. Just the two of us. Yes. I love you too.. Bye.” 

“Louis pissed that you’ve been elbow deep in oil paint for two weeks?” Niall asked Harry. 

“You have no idea.” Harry sat down at the bar stool behind the counter. He had on a plain black t-shirt and leather jacket and a bandana wrapped around his head. Harry was the kindest, most loveable nerd he’d ever met - but you wouldn’t know that from the way he dressed. It was all black always with him, and it usually came with fresh paint stains. They’d met each other at freshman orientation and had been best friends ever since. 

“How was your day?” Harry asked pulling out his laptop from his backpack and setting it on the countertop. 

“Had one of my tests today. Was alright but I feel like I could’ve played better, yknow? Won’t find out until next week how I did though.” 

“You’re always too hard on yourself. You play guitar better than everyone I know.”

“How many people do you actually know, Harry?” Niall joked and snickered. 

“So that’s what you think of me? After all this time….” Harry stopped mid sentence when he noticed the red flyer sticking out of Niall’s messenger bag and he leaned over grab it. “What’s this?”

“Something I grabbed at that coffee place on State Street today. Thought about doing it. Free twenty dollars, yeah?” 

“The same coffee shop that the bloke with his ears pierced and man bun works at?” 

“Erm, yeah. How do you know the barista?” Niall asked.

“That place has the best tea. And he’s not ugly. I’m signing you up for this.”

“You think he’s fit?” Niall pressed on, his face flushing pink with embarrassment. 

“Oh please. Don’t tell me you’ve never noticed. ” Harry responded winking at Niall as he ate another fork full of spaghetti.

Niall shrugged and leaned against the counter top. He’d be lying if he said he’d never thought about it before, but he’d always pushed it to the back of his mind. He just assumed that thinking another dude was attractive was a normal thing that would pass. Besides - he’d strictly only been with girls for his entire life. It’s what he knew. Either way, it wasn’t important.

“You have to be over at the 600 building at noon on Thursday. You owe me twenty dollars for that case of Guinness I bought you last weekend.” Harry stated plainly and closed his laptop and leaving the room. Niall assumed he was going to work on his senior thesis in his bedroom which left him alone with his thoughts for the rest of the afternoon.  
______________________________

Niall walked into the lecture hall where the shoot was being held. There were probably already about fifteen other people there, all complete strangers. Or so he thought they were all strangers. Not more than three seconds later he turned around - the barista from the little coffee shop on State. Niall felt his face flush with color and anger bubbled inside of him. After giving him shit for taking an interest in this of course he would show up. He took a seat in the back, slouching down in his chair hopefully nobody would notice him. He tugged at the hem of his navy blue button-up and bit his lips to try to calm his nerves. He still had no idea what the plan was for the film. All he knew was that it had something to do with meeting strangers for the first time because Harry wouldn’t tell him much more. Whenever Niall asked about it, Harry acted like it was no big deal.

“Alright guys! If I could have your attention so we could get started, that would be awesome.” A small dark skinned girl with electric blue hair spoke from the front of the room. She wore thick rimmed glasses and chunky black combat boots. A typical art student and Niall assumed she was the director. “So I know all of you submitted your profiles online, and we’ve already paired you up for the big kiss. The whole concept for the video is you’re going to be kissing a complete stranger for the first time to show that we’re all sort of connected somehow. We’ll call out your names in a few minutes and get the camera’s rolling.” 

Kiss? Niall heard that right, didn’t he? That couldn’t be that bad right? He’d kissed loads of girls before. It’d be easy. Guys on the other hand? He’d only imagined that. Although there was still a chance he’d end up with a girl…. right? How could Harry not tell him about this? a mixture of anger and regret filled his stomach. He forced himself to get up from his seat in the back room to find his name and partner on the list. 

“Scarlett and Maya, Oliver and Jack, and Julian and Niall, you guys are up first. Hope you’re ready!” The director yelled. Niall had only gotten halfway to the front of the room when he felt a hand on his shoulder. 

“Hey… Partner.” Niall turned around to see the curly haired barista with an easy smirk on his face. He froze, all the color draining from his face.

“Partner?” Niall questioned, the word barely leaving his lips.

“Partner, indeed. The names’ Julian by the way. Probably should know that though. I’ve only been serving you coffee for three months.” Before either of them could respond again, the girl with blue hair began calling couples to start filming

The two were then center stage facing each other with bright lights and a camera being pointed at them. Niall, being anxious as he was, biting the skin around his finger nails to calm him down. He didn’t understand how Julian could be so calm cool and collected. He’d always thought that he hated him. All the times that he’d made fun of his order, or what he’d worn that day. But no, he looked completely at ease. His hands were tucked into the back pockets of his dark skinny jeans, and his plain white t-shirt and red flannel fit casually over his chest and shoulders. His hair was pulled back into a bun, and Niall made a mental note that he was slightly unnerved by how nice he thought Julian looked. Harry was right. There was no way he didn’t notice even if he was always in such a rush before class. Julian was incredibly fit. Niall bit his lip at the thought.

“Alright guys. When the red light goes on - so do you. No worries, no pressure.” The director announced and the red light turned on. 

“So… we just… do this?” Niall asked timidly, locking eyes with Julian realizing that his eyes were more hazel than brown that he’d ever noticed before. 

“I guess so.”

Julian took a step towards Niall and placed his hands on either side of his waist looking straight into his eyes. Niall took a deep breath and as if Julian couldn’t wait any longer their lips crashed together. The electricity consumed every part of Niall’s body and it felt like he was on fire. Julian’s lips were softer than he expected and the tickle of his facial hair made him feel very aware that he was kissing a dude. Niall’s hands moved from being unsure at his side to confidently around Julian’s neck pulling him closer to him and he could feel Julian’s hands moving around his back. The two moved together completely in sync barely taking a moment to breathe. 

When the director yelled cut and the red recording light dimmed the pair pulled away from each other - pecking each other's lips lingering slowly not wanting it to be over. Niall red in the face and Julian grinning from ear to ear. Their eyes met briefly causing them both to erupt in a fit of giggles.

“So…” Julian took a deep breath before finishing his sentence, “Can I buy you your next cup of coffee?”


End file.
